Hello Loves,
How are you doing? I’m taking a break from this week’s regularly scheduled post, and here’s why:
To be completely honest with you when I heard about the most recent horrifying and heartbreaking murders of innocent black people (George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery) I wanted to retract all my work in the world that tells people to reach for ease and joy and abundance, and crumple into sadness, guilt and shame, because HOW ON EARTH can that exist when THIS exists??
How on EARTH can I proclaim for people to reclaim their power and their right to joy and gentleness in their lives when such abuse of power, lack of power, hatred and violence exists?!! My mind would have had me shut down in that moment completely, and crawl back under my rock and hide away. Cowering under the fear of getting it wrong, or contributing to the hurt.
But my HEART had something else to say… and this is what it said:
“There is room enough in you for both, that’s how. There is room enough in you to hold this all. You eradicate that disempowerment, abuse of power, hatred and violence in the world, in the same way you do it in yourself—which is by not running away from it. By facing and feeling what holds you down, and turning it into the key that sets you free.
You KEEP empowering women to put themselves and their freedom at the center of their own lives, because to REALLY do that you have to stop running from your own pain, and when people stop running from their own pain… they stop running from OTHER PEOPLES PAIN TOO.”
My shame would have had me crumple into inaction, but as soon as I remembered that I can handle my own pain, I was suddenly free to be ENRAGED and horrified, and those feelings MOVED.
Those feelings found out what they could do, and what actions they could take in that moment… they didn’t listen to the voice in my head that said “It’s not enough! what can I do? it will never be enough to change anything?! You could say something wrong! How can I exist and have so much when others have to deal with this! It’s not right! You’re horrible! Just shut up and disappear.” — instead of listening to those voices, I cried, I sobbed, I let my heart break over what I was reading and seeing, and then I got right up and went ahead and did the small actions I could do. I took the steps I could think to take today, instead of staying paralyzed.
For me, that looked like sharing my support and outrage on social media, along with some links and suggestions for how my white friends and followers can help, and then setting up new regular monthly donations to racial justice organizations who do this work everyday single day on our behalf (links below if you can donate too). As well as some single donations to George’s family and to the #sayhername campaign.
Also for me that looks like re-dedicating and committing myself to empowering women to take back their desires for more money, ease and joy in their businesses, and continuing to dismantle white supremacy in whatever ways I can, because when freedom-loving-not-afraid-of-digging-deep-heart-centered-business-owners are empowered we change the world and tip the scales of power in ways that will ripple out and touch all beings in a way we cannot even BEGIN to conceive of.
But it starts with being able to hold the pain… and to hold the joy too.
Often times we are so used to living in the pain, it is more so the joy we have trouble holding. It is a revolutionary act to hold joy in that way, and to cultivate more of it. And I believe a big part of our trouble with that is that we don’t think we can hold both.
But we can. And we must.
Because it’s here.
So I will be back next week singing my tune about joy and ease and money, and inviting you to invite more of it in your life despite all the heartbreak and loss in the world…
So we can write a NEW world,
together.
❤️
xo,
Sunni
P.S. I have included some links and resources below and encourage you to just pick one thing you CAN do instead of getting drowned out and overwhelmed with what you can’t:
Donate:
1. colorofchange.org
2. boldorganizing.org
3. Support the #SayHerName Campaign
4. Dignity and Power Now
5. Freedom, Inc.
6. Showing Up For Racial Justice
Sign The Petition / Act:
1. Justice for Big Floyd
2. Justice for Breonna Taylor
3. Make false 911 claims a criminal offense
4. Top Racial Justice Campaigns Change.org
5. Top Racial Justice Petitions – The Petition Site
6. 5 Ways White People Can Take Action in Response to White and State-Sanctioned Violence
